In a next generation communication system, also known as the 4th Generation (4G) communication system, researches are actively conducted to ensure mobility of a mobile station (MS) and flexibility of a wireless network and also to provide further effective services in a wireless environment where traffic distribution and call demands change rapidly. A multi-hop relay communication system employing a data transfer method using a relay station (RS) is taken into consideration as one of the 4 G communication systems.
The use of the RS provides an advantage of throughput improvement and cell coverage extension. However, since signal transmission is repeated twice (i.e., communication between a base station (BS) and the RS and communication between the RS and an MS), more resources are consumed than when using a single-hop wireless communication system. Therefore, resource reuse is necessary when communication is made between the RS and the MS.
When signals are simultaneously transmitted and received by a plurality of RSs, intra-cell interference occurs inside a cell, which leads to deterioration in system performance. In addition, inter-cell interference occurs between neighbor cells when MSs are located in a boundary area of the neighbor cells. Therefore, there is a need for a method for preventing intra-cell interference between RSs within a cell and inter-cell interference between neighbor cells.